UOC DECR publishes 5th bulletin on the violation of believers’ rights

The Emblem of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC. Photo: pravlife.org

Newsletter No. 5 on violations of the constitutional rights of believers of the UOC was published on the website of the Department for External Church Relations.

The document is accessible for reading in Ukrainian and can be downloaded here. Translations of the document into Russian, English and Greek by the DECR will be published by the UOC later.

The purpose of the Bulletin is to inform clergy and parishioners of other Local Orthodox Churches, representatives of state authorities of foreign countries, the media, human rights and expert organizations about the most egregious cases of violation of the rights of parishioners and clergy of the UOC in Ukraine and direct interference of state power in the affairs of the Church.

The fifth issue of the newsletter highlights information in these three areas:

1. Factual information about the seizure of temples and other cases of the use of physical force and pressure on the UOC parishioners with the aim of forcing the transfer of temples and religious communities under the jurisdiction of the OCU;
2. Cases of direct administrative and power pressure on the UOC clergy by the state authorities of Ukraine;
3. Protection of the rights of clergymen and parishioners of the UOC in the judicial field.

The archive of bulletins can be found on the official website of the UOC DECR in the section “Newsletter”. Go to it through the menu of the site: "Human Rights Defenders" - "Newsletter".

We recall that in April 2019, the UOC DECR began publishing its own newsletter on the blatant cases of violations of the rights of parishioners and clergy of the canonical Church. The need for such a release arose "in connection with the increase in cases of offences committed against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, as well as to properly inform and pay attention to these cases of the clergy and believers of other Local Orthodox Churches, the government, the media, human rights, and expert organizations".

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